10 Christmas Mystery Books to Read During the Festive Season
Looking for a Christmas mystery to curl up with? Here are ten of my favourites.
There’s something about the combination of cold, dark evenings and a good murder that just works.
Add a country house, a family with grudges to spare, and a blizzard cutting everyone off from the outside world, and you’ve got the makings of a proper festive mystery.
Whether you like your whodunits classic and cosy or a touch grittier, here are ten Christmas-themed mysteries worth making time for this December.
- 1. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
- 2. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
- 3. Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
- 4. The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
- 5. Rest You Merry by Charlotte MacLeod
- 6. A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
- 7. Silent Night by Robert B. Parker
- 8. A Christmas Party (Envious Casca) by Georgette Heyer
- 9. The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P.D. James
- 10. Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh
- More Christmas Mystery Books
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means I earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase using a link, but at no cost to you. I’ve included Amazon links to each recommended book as well as Everand, Spotify, and Bookshop.org where available.
1. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
There’s no better place to start a list like this than with Christie herself. In Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, the fastidious Belgian detective is drawn into a family Christmas gone badly wrong.
Simeon Lee, the wealthy and thoroughly unpleasant family patriarch, is found dead after baiting his relatives into a furious row.
Everyone at the house has a reason to want him gone, and Poirot has to work through decades of family resentment to get to the truth. It’s classic Christie: a locked room, a houseful of suspects, and a twist you probably won’t see coming.
“It is, then, your opinion that crime is bound up with a sense of festivity?”
2. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
If one Christie isn’t enough (it never is), The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is a short story collection that’s perfect for reading in instalments over the holidays.
A stolen ruby, a jewel hidden inside a Christmas pudding, and Poirot in typically sharp form throughout.
It’s a lighter, quicker read than the novels, but no less satisfying if you want a bit of festive Christie without committing to a full-length mystery.
“The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.”
3. Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
In Murder for Christmas, amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine heads to the country estate of Benedict Grame expecting a quiet Christmas. Instead, one of the other guests turns up dead.
Set in the 1940s, this one has all the hallmarks of a proper Golden Age mystery: a snowed-in house party, a small cast of suspects, and secrets that come out one at a time as Tremaine starts asking questions. It’s an underrated pick if you’ve exhausted the more famous names on this list.
“Christmas is supposed to bring out the best in people, not their worst.”
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Learn More About Genki4. The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
Set in a grand English country house, The Santa Klaus Murder is proper golden-age fare, blending holiday cheer with old-fashioned suspense.
When the family patriarch is found dead on Christmas morning, suspicion falls on everyone at the house — including whoever was dressed as Santa that day.
Hay only wrote three detective novels in her career, but her plotting here is intricate and her characters properly memorable; this is a book that rewards close reading.
“Christmas can be a trying time, especially for families. There’s nothing like an enforced gathering to bring out the worst in people.”
5. Rest You Merry by Charlotte MacLeod
If you want something a bit more light-hearted, Charlotte MacLeod’s Rest You Merry is a cosy, funny Christmas caper rather than a dark one.
Professor Peter Shandy tries to dodge his college’s Christmas festivities entirely, only to come home and find his neighbour dead in his living room.
It’s silly and warm in all the right places, and Shandy makes a very reluctant, very likeable amateur detective. A good choice if you want your Christmas mystery on the gentler side.
“Christmas decorations should be banned as a public nuisance!”
6. A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
For something shorter, join Police Constable Hamish Macbeth in his small Scottish village as he takes on a run of small-town Christmas mysteries: a missing cat, a stolen tree, a disappointed child.
A Highland Christmas is more cosy mystery, but it’s exactly the sort of low-stakes, feel-good story that suits a lazy afternoon by the fire.
“The Highlands were always beautiful in winter, and Christmas brought out a certain magic.”
7. Silent Night by Robert B. Parker
In this holiday entry in Parker’s Spenser series, the Boston-based detective takes on a case involving a young boy facing homelessness.
Set against a wintry Boston backdrop, Silent Night is a grittier read than most of the others on this list, but it’s a warm one underneath.
Worth knowing before you pick it up: Parker died before finishing the manuscript, and it was completed posthumously by his long-time literary agent. That said, it’s a well-paced Spenser story for anyone after something with a bit more edge.
“It’s the season of giving, and yet, here in the cold, we see the season’s true poverty.”
8. A Christmas Party (Envious Casca) by Georgette Heyer
Heyer brings her trademark wit to a Christmas family gathering that turns deadly. When a relative is found dead in a locked room, every single person at the party has a motive.
A Christmas Party is a proper locked-room mystery, sharpened by Heyer’s gift for family drama and dialogue that’s sharper than it has any right to be.
“The best way to ensure peace in the family is to have no family at all.”
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Claim the Airalo Discount9. The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P.D. James
The Mistletoe Murder collection brings together four of James’s Christmas-themed short stories, ranging from cosy to genuinely unsettling.
The title story in particular has a real Christie feel to it, with a twist that’s held up well since it was first written.
James’s prose is elegant even in short form, which makes this a good pick if you want something you can dip in and out of over the holidays rather than reading in one sitting.
“It was a Christmas I shall never forget; the mistletoe was not the only thing that left a bitter taste.”
10. Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh
Inspector Roderick Alleyn is invited to a manor house Christmas celebration in this one, only for things to take a dark turn when a servant goes missing.
The atmosphere is properly chilling despite the festive setting, and fans of classic British mysteries will find Tied Up in Tinsel a satisfying, well-plotted read to close out the list.
“Christmas is the season of goodwill, but apparently, it’s also the season for murder.”
More Christmas Mystery Books
Whether you’re by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate or bundled up under a blanket, these Christmas mysteries are a great way to add a bit of suspense to the season.
If you’re after a gift idea, why not stick one in your loved one’s stocking this year, or put together your own book advent calendar?
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Claim OfferGot a Christmas mystery you think I should add to the list? Let me know in the comments.
For more festive reading suggestions, check out the best Christmas books for adults , Christmas romance novels, and the most nostalgic Christmas books for kids that adults love too.
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Amy Poulton
I’m Amy, an explorer of real and fictional worlds. A word huntress. An escape artist. A page traveller.
I started this blog in 2015 when I was living as an expat in Hong Kong, as a way to keep in touch with friends and family back home. Later, I wrote about my backpacking adventures in Southeast Asia and Mexico, as well as my other experiences living overseas in Italy and Thailand.
Two years ago, I started my next chapter as a digital nomad and travelling cat mom. And of course, I’ve been journeying through books all that time, too.
Now I host Nomad Book Club and literary reading retreats, and offer trip planning services.
Learn more about me and the Page Traveller blog here.